It began as a typical Manhattan rumour, all at once absurd, impossible, but nevertheless delicious: Bill Clinton would run for mayor of New York City next year.
It was a rumour almost as ridiculous as one that circulated a few years ago: that the First Lady of the United States, on the heels of a sex scandal involving her husband, would move to New York and run for the US Senate.
The rumour about Mr Clinton has quickly morphed into a serious discussion in New York. There have been denials from the President, but other reports have surfaced that aides have been discussing the possibility of a run for mayor.
Speculation about Mr Clinton's future has become a national pastime, aided in part by the six-week-old chaotic limbo that is called the presidential election.
Over the last few months, Mr Clinton's engaging personality and charm have been more on display than ever as he comes to the end of his presidency. In interviews with Rolling Stone and Esquire magazines, he comes across as caring, ambitious, brilliant, and seemingly at peace with himself.
It hardly seems a prescription for retreat and retirement. His legendary energy has not abated: on election night, as Mrs Clinton and daughter Chelsea finally went to bed after 2 a.m., Mr Clinton and a gaggle of friends and aides stayed up all night watching the election fiasco unfold.
Mr Clinton himself has said he has no specific plans, other than the need to make a great deal of money to pay off an estimated $6 million in legal bills still outstanding from the Whitewater and Lewinsky cases. "It's going to take money to support a US Senator," he said, referring to Mrs Clinton's Senate salary of $140,000.
What is known for certain is that Mr Clinton has rented a suite of offices in mid-town Manhattan. There are reports that he and Mrs Clinton are searching for an apartment in Manhattan, in addition to the $1.8 million Westchester County home they purchased to establish residency for Mrs Clinton's successful Senate run.
Separately, Mrs Clinton has been looking at apartments in Washington DC, where she will work during the week. In addition, Mr Clinton says he will raise money for and work on the development of his presidential library in Arkansas.
For the moment, the Hollywood speculation has subsided. Before the shift towards New York there was an assumption that Mr Clinton would head to Los Angeles, where he has many friends and supporters in the film industry, and perhaps take a lucrative position with Dreamworks, the film studio run by director Steven Spiel berg, Jeffrey Katzenberg and David Geffen.
With Mrs Clinton firmly based on the east coast, however, that seems unlikely. And despite Mr Clinton's concerns about money, it seems this week it will continue to be Mrs Clinton who serves as the family breadwinner, as she has for the last 20 years of their marriage.
All last week a parade of New York publishers flew to Washington and held individual one-hour meetings with Mrs Clinton in the White House. They listened as she discussed the book she plans to write about her years in the White House. It would, they said, be an emotional and honest book that would nonetheless be "dignified".
For their part, the dozen or so publishers each lobbied Mrs Clinton as to why they should be chosen to publish the book. Speculation in the industry is that the advance for the worldwide rights to Mrs Clinton's book will far exceed $5 million. The bidding was set to begin at 5 p.m. yesterday.
It is likely Mr Clinton will also write a book, and sources say he has already begun. But for a man who has spent his entire life campaigning, the prospect of a non-political life, no matter how lucrative, seems farfetched.
Of course he can join corporate boards, give speeches, write books. But Mr Clinton has spent a lifetime running for or serving in elected office. It is a truism about him that he has never done anything solely for money.
Thus, the prospect of running New York City seems less absurd.